Twilight Imp
by Oracle Five
Summary: What was Midna thinking when Zant took the throne and made himself the King of the Twilight? One-shot. Spoilers for some of Twilight Princess


Here's my entry for Rowena's June '1000 words or Less' challenge. The theme this month was 'Taking Something Away'; we had to show the impact of something being taken away, either by a canon event or something we just made up.

I decided to focus on Midna; I figure her as being more out for blood than anything else after Zant cursed her.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Zelda or Twilight Princess. I own a COPY of Twilight Princess. That's different.

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She nearly screamed as the paved stones under her feet came rushing up to meet her. _Nearly_, mind you; it went against her nature to wail and screech in the manner of some helpless infant. Her head spun, but Midna ignored it and pushed herself back to her feet. That traitor was about to feel the wrath of –

…What? Her hand…it was so – so _tiny!_ Midna looked at herself, and gasped in shock.

"What did you do to me?!" she exclaimed, her voice now so much shriller than it was supposed to be.

In response, Zant laughed.

He laughed, and he laughed, and then he laughed some more; his normal cracked cackle warped into something deeper and much more menacing than usual with his head inside that ugly helmet. The black beasts that served him – beasts that had once been _her people_ – were silent, but that somehow made them even more alarming a sight.

Especially since they were now all taller than Midna.

"See? Do you understand now, _Princess_?" Zant eventually sneered at her, "This is my power! The power of the King! It is absolute proof that I rule here, and that you do not."

"You traitor!" Midna shot back, her anger making light of the issue of her new imp-shaped form, "I'll never accept you as King of the Twili! Traitor! Thief!"

In response to her words, Zant waved a hand and blasted her off the balcony.

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The shadow beasts crept past, but she remained unnoticed in her hiding spot. When they were finally gone, Midna floated down from her perch to the hard soil below and began walking again.

She was so _tired_…walking had _never_ been such a chore before! But now that she was a third of her real height, distances that had been short before were now achingly long. Flying wasn't an option anymore; where once Midna could glide on invisible currents of air, now she could only float. Or at best, bounce. And bouncing took almost as much energy as trudging on the ground did.

What Midna tried very hard not to think about was the important reason why she was walking; Zant was searching for her. She had no interest in being caught by him, or by his slaves, the shadow beasts. She had a sneaking suspicion that Zant wanted to keep her as a trophy of his success. Midna, however, was no one's trophy. She hadn't struggled long and mightily to defeat all comers – _including_ Zant – and take the throne, only to wind up in cage somewhere in this imp-shape!

Midna had a secret weapon; making certain she was alone, she summoned it.

The Fused Shadow headpiece's single eye looked at her with an odd, penetrating stare as the magic artifact floated over her open hand. Midna stared right back, her face twisting into a vicious sneer. She knew, as no _usurper_ ever could, just what kinds power a Twilight Princess would have left to her in this situation. And while a single piece of Fused Shadow might not boost her currently limited powers to the level where she could break Zant's curse on her (preferably breaking Zant himself in the process)…

…Midna knew _exactly_ where to go to find more. Donning the headpiece, Midna slipped back into hiding as she heard another pair of shadow beasts approaching.

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Getting the rest of her Fused Shadow pieces was going to be tricky. Midna had scored a lucky break when Zant had started pouring Twilight into the world of Light; she had slipped past his monsters and disappeared into the depths of Hyrule. Zant had noticed this, and the shadow beasts had already started searching for her, but Midna was tricky and clever and avoided them easily.

She refused to admit that she owed any part of her escape to her new…_stature_, though being small certainly helped some.

But it was still too difficult to get around at this size. What she needed, Midna reflected while she hung around at the advancing border of Twilight, was someone big, strong, and (preferably) easy to manipulate into helping her out. The seals on her Fused Shadow pieces weren't going to break _themselves_, after all.

Therefore Midna viewed the situation with ever-increasing interest when a lone shadow beast pulled a very _unusual_ man through the curtain of Twilight.

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**_FIN_**

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End file.
